Some of my Christmas tips......

Most of you so creative, you have ideas that my brain has never thought of or already know some of these . But I thought I would share some of my holiday short cuts or tips anyway just for the fun of it !!

1. Use usual things for something different in your Christmas decor. I have this large letter Q for a wall hanging but like to use it as a wreath. So it is hung this year on our china hutch with a bow and an over sized ornament.

2. I can't make bows for the life of me, not really pretty ones that is.

So I buy those lovely spools of like 50 yards of wired ribbon at Costco or a craft store, then I take it to my local florist and have them make my bows. The cost to me is minimal and a good time saver too. Then I bag up the bows at the end of the season and hang the bag in a closet till the next year. When bows get to worn out after several years, start over with new ribbon.

See this lovely big bow for the mantel.

3. Change up things you already have the next year.

This metal tree I got last year and had little photo frames hanging from it got changed up for the dining room this year. Photo frames came off and lamp prisms from the hardware store ( Lowes) went onto it. Easy switch that makes a grand and sparkly statement.


4. Change out existing furniture or shelves with holiday things.
This cabinet/hutch in our kitchen gets turned into Christmas just by taking out the usual things and putting in Christmas lights and Christmas dishes, collectibles etc.
I love how it looks this time of year and is nice for a switch from the usual things in it.


5. Utensils as decor. I found this old cake tin at an antique shop years ago. I liked it's star like shape and it is an old kitchen gadget that I always like ( have a whole collection of them and some are family ones). This time of year it makes for a great candle holder with glass pebbles around the candle. I can also use it at other times of the year too, like with sea shells in it for Summer, etc.

6. Clip on ornament hooks, one of my great finds. I found these on sale I think at Solutions.com last year after Christmas. I had wanted them for this idea. And I wanted to do this this year on our living room tree for a change.

I have a big collection of antique post cards, different occasions etc.

So I used these clips to clip on my Christmas post cards to hang on the tree.

That way you don't damage the antique cards which devalues them and you can use the clips again for other things or another season.

You could also glues on embellishments on the top part of the clip to hid that part, like a bow or something else.

This is good to use also for hanging family photos, wouldn't that make a neat tree too?

7. One of my favorite ideas. I bought a case of glass generic wine glasses years ago at Linens & Things.( Not the one shown, just plain clear ones.) I don't really care for plastic glasses when doing a party.

Then instead of buying those wine glass charms etc. to put on them I got the idea to use stickers.

I just made sure I got cute and different stickers for each glass. Many times you can find a pack for next to nothing.

So each glass for the party got a sticker on it.

Then when done, I just soaked the stickers off or washed by hand the wine glasses to remove them.

Easy and that way all the guests, as long as they remembered knew which glass was theirs.

8. I got the idea this year to make these large felt snow flake picks for the top of the tree.

Cut apart a snow flake felt runner I got last year at Walmart for like $9.99.

Used dowel or parts of plastic white hangers to make the pick sticks and hot glued them onto the back side of the felt snow flake.

Voila!!!

Stuck them in the tree.

9. Check out those dollar bins.

I got these darling ornament place tag holders, 2/$1.00 in a pack at Michaels craft store this year. Darling and no real expense.

10. Using tags for place cards.

I found a large package of these darling scrap book tags for about $4.00 at Michaels.

Several different designs.

I had enough to make some ornaments with them and then I thought they would make pretty place cards too, which they do with a little bit of embellishment used too.

I have also used pretty package tags as ornaments which makes decorating really affordable.